HEADS UP AVIAN INFLUENZA ALERT

[farmerbrowne]

Im in Canada and it has been reported in Southern Ontario, Im wondering if i lose a bird, who or where would I go to get it tested?? They have started to eliminate back yard flocks as well!

 

[chicknmania]

has it spread to michigan?

No cases documented in Michigan yet. Everybody please pray for all of us. Power of prayer.

 

[enola]

Im in Canada and it has been reported in Southern Ontario, Im wondering if i lose a bird, who or where would I go to get it tested?? They have started to eliminate back yard flocks as well!

The nearest veterinarian will know where to tell you to send it.

 

[farmerbrowne]

Thank you

The nearest veterinarian will know where to tell you to send it.

Thank you, alot of times people tell me your local extension office, but I dont know what that would be!

 

[applebutter14]

i leave not far from there! i hope my birds are safe. i love them dearly!

 

[MrsBachbach]

All birds in a flock are destroyed. In a large barn with thousands of birds, they bring in a foaming machine, foam the building to suffocate, bulldoze to the center and compost in place monitoring the temperature of the pile. The heat of composting kills the virus.
They claim that even the heat of summer will knock it down - for the time being.

They foam the birds to suffocate them? How awful.

I thought it had to be pretty high temps to kill the virus? Higher than normal summer temps.

 

[WalnutHill]

No, that's the odd thing about this virus. It is very persistent in the cold, but has a very short life in hot weather. Come on, summer!

 

[MrsBachbach]

Maybe I am thinking wrong, but I was under the understanding that the Agriculture Department is destroying all infected flocks to prevent even wider spread of the virus AND to prevent chances of mutation to a strain that effects humans.

That is what I have read also. If it shows up in a flock, they try to contain it by culling all of them. That also serves the purpose of preventing mutation. Something that is not as likely to happen in small flocks because the numbers aren't there to favor mutation.

I was referring to what the future will hold for non commercial poultry. Very bleak if they are not allowed to build resistance. They can't eliminate the virus. It's always going to be somewhere. Maybe they will come up with a vaccine, otherwise

 

[MrsBachbach]

No, that's the odd thing about this virus.  It is very persistent in the cold, but has a very short life in hot weather.  Come on, summer!

I hate summer! Too hot!

I wonder if hummingbirds are safe? I haven't put up my hummingbird feeder yet and was thinking of doing so. I took down bird feeders years ago. Anyone think hummingbirds are susceptible? They don't stick their beaks in anything but nectar.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They foam the birds to suffocate them? How awful.

...

Yes but much quicker and less painful than dying from the disease.

That is what I have read also. If it shows up in a flock, they try to contain it by culling all of them. That also serves the purpose of preventing mutation. Something that is not as likely to happen in small flocks because the numbers aren't there to favor mutation.

I was referring to what the future will hold for non commercial poultry. Very bleak if they are not allowed to build resistance. They can't eliminate the virus. It's always going to be somewhere. Maybe they will come up with a vaccine, otherwise

They've been working hard to come up with a vaccine - nothing yet.

An old article but interesting timeline of HPAI since 1955
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/Comm...ons2012/Swayne-HPAILPAIStrategies-FED2012.pdf
It also says no one strategy is effective for control.

Now it appears that it has become airborne.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...phe-mounts-amid-concern-virus-may-be-airborne

I hate summer! Too hot!

I wonder if hummingbirds are safe? I haven't put up my hummingbird feeder yet and was thinking of doing so. I took down bird feeders years ago. Anyone think hummingbirds are susceptible? They don't stick their beaks in anything but nectar.

They also eat tree sap, pollen and insects.
I watched a ruby throat hover next to a big spider web and as the baby spiders hatched it picked them off one by one till they were all gone.